Tagged With marathon

In fewer than 24 hours, I’ll be lining up on the start line for the Surf Coast Trail Marathon. This is my second marathon and my preparation has been less than perfect. When I ran this event last year, I had a solid 16 week preparation with lots of long runs that were planned with a specific cycle of three weeks of increasing distance followed by an easier week. This year, has been a different story and it strikes me that there are some lessons that can be applied to project management.

This weekend, Nike set up an event where they declared three athletes would run the world's fastest marathon. They were amazing athletes, to be sure, but the real news was how Nike controlled every possible condition to give the runners just the tiniest of speed boosts. And some of these are things you can do yourself.

There's nothing like an ambitious goal to focus your training, and running a marathon definitely fits the bill. Plenty of mere mortals have completed the 42km race, but it takes time, planning and, of course, an appropriate level of fitness. Here's how to know if a marathon is a realistic goal for you.

Running a marathon -- or even a half-marathon -- is gruelling, so proper preparation and recovery are key. Here's are some tips to prepare yourself for the race, and how much recovery time you should give yourself.

As soon as I was able to run, I wanted to run faster. It's been a journey with a lot of ups and downs, but it really is possible to start as a slow runner and, well, become a lot less slow. I'm no Olympian, but I'm fast enough to occasionally win age group medals at local races. Here's my story.

Once you set your sights on a race, it changes your training. The question today is, should we dream small or dream big? Should you aim for a fast and fun 5K sometime soon, or commit yourself to a full marathon of guts and glory?

Running is hard. Sticking to a training plan is hard. But knowing that you have a race in a month is a great motivator to keep you going when you'd rather be watching TV. If you've never run a race before, putting one on your calendar might seem scary: Will I feel out of place? What should I wear?